First roses of the year...

David Austin's Rose 'Albrighton Rambler' just began in the Rose garden.

Last year, I posted about all of the new English roses that I put into our new gardens at Havenwood. Here are the first couple to start out our season of roses for the year...

Rosy Plans for the Year

Rosa 'Scepter d' Isle'

Rosa 'Ferdinand Pritchard'

Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll'

*All Rose photos in this post from David Austin Roses, US

While the snow was still flying here in Pennsylvania and a hot cup of tea was an imperative (!), I spent an evening sitting on the floor planning out our vegetable gardens for the summertime...

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ July 2014 GBBD

A bee sampling the nectar in the last foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, of the season in the Shade Path garden.

Welcome to Gilmore Gardens in July!

Work is in full swing still over at our new garden, Havenwood, as I try to prepare new beds to hold our flowers at Gilmore in the fall. There are a lot blooming over there, so here are just a few glimpses this month!

February Flowers ~ GBBD 2014

Welcome to Pennsylvania in February!

It was -1 degrees F (-18 C) this morning, we have eight inches of snow outside and are expect to get six more inches tonight. So, we are inside for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day today. Thankfully, we have more orchids and some roses... :)

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD November 2013

Our Rose in November snow.

Welcome to my garden in November!

We had a week of snow here in Pennsylvania. One bright morning, I went out for a walk to see the unusual sights that come from having snow this early in the year...

Roses in the Hill Garden

Rosa 'The Fairy' in the Hill Garden.

The finale rose in our garden this month is the classic polyanthus Rosa 'The Fairy'. When we planted our Hill Garden, which started as just a pile of dirt from our new gravel parking area (see before photo), I planted four of these pretty re-blooming rose bushes to ring the hill. They are backed by four purple barberry bushes (which I am not sure I would recommend as they can be invasive in some areas, though they look lovely here). The silvery lamb's ears (Stachys byzantine) and evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata) fill in here. There is also a host of perennial flowers at the crown of the hill: Echinacea purpurea, Shasta daisies, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', russian sage (Perovskia), Mallow and others.

I love this garden in all seasons, starting with the bulbs in early spring, then tulips (early tulips and late tulips), roses and daisies for summer, bold foliage in the late summer (Cannas are in again this year!), and more roses and Sedum for October, even til December snow. But for now, we are soaking up July. :)

Climbing Rose and Clematis Combination

Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' blooming with our pink climbing rose.

It is rose season at our house!

The pink climbing rose is blooming this week and oh, so fragrant. Last year I added a clematis to it, and this is the first year they have bloomed together. Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' is a beautiful red climber that we also have on a trellis by our Circle Lawn (see it last week).

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD June 2013

Our Shade Path Garden full of yellow perennial foxgloves, Digitalis grandiflora.

Welcome to Pennsylvania for Garden Blogger Bloom Day!
There are lots of flowers to see this weekend around our small, town garden. Come take a walk around...

Pink Rose and Purple Clematis Combination for June

In our Driveway garden, an old pink rose bush makes a wonderful host for purple Clematis 'Etoile Violette'.

June is underway and the roses are blooming here in Pennsylvania. Our Driveway Garden is covered in pink and blue this week, with a bit of white thrown in to lighten the color palette.

When we bought our home, we inherited an old rose bush by the back corner of our house... and one to match it across the driveway. It blooms its socks off once and year, and then needs quite a bit of pruning to keep it in line. A newer rose would give more for repeat bloom, but the light fragrance and pink color make it worth keeping. And even better yet is the combination that happens when Clematis 'Etoile Violette' blooms along with it. The clematis it is planted at the roses feet and it appreciates the cool shade the rose provides. It easily grabs a hold on to the rose brambles and pulls itself to the sun.

Around the perimeter of this rose, which is 5 feet high and 6 feet wide (1.6 m x 2m), there is ground cover of variegated deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata), and yellow-blooming Sedum 'Acre'.

Color for the Weekend

Remembering June... Our pink climbing rose on a trellis (that hides our trash cans!)

See more of June at our gardens to help you make it through the cold weather!
Have a restful weekend!
~Julie

Heavy Snow

Shoveled path to our front door.

We had quite the snowfall the day after Christmas, and it is still with us two weeks later. (See our still standing snow fort.) I took these photos of our garden covered in snow the first week. Hopefully, we are going to have a thawing out at the end of this week!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD November 2012

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' with its bright autumn foliage around our Circle Lawn.

Welcome to November in Pennsylvania!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ October GBBD 2012

Perennial mum Dendranthema 'Sheffield Pink' and double purple Aster hybrida 'Peter III'.

Welcome to October at Gilmore Gardens in Pennsylvania! 

Everywhere in our area we are seeing the colors of autumn. The trees are in the middle of their foliage change - the earlier ones having dropped most of their leaves and the later ones still holding on to their green. The asters are out in full force, the milkweeds pods are just about ripe and the first nips of frost have just come this past weekend. Some of the annual flowers did not take kindly to the cold, but others have survived to bloom a bit longer. Hope you enjoy your look around our tiny town garden!

Asters and pumpkins add color to the sunny Driveway Garden this fall.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ August GBBD 2012

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and Mandevilla 'Pretty Pink' in PA zone 5 for August.

Welcome to August in my Pennsylvania, zone 5 garden! It is not what I had hoped that it would be, but the garden is perking up after having some much needed rain in the past two weeks. I took these photos last night after another rain came.

Large-flowered hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Elephant') in our Driveway Garden is blooming away this month.

More in the Driveway Garden: Hibiscus 'Pink Elephant',white Miscanthus 'Dixieland',  a tall blue Buddleia and Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee'. The ground cover in front here is Sedum 'Acre' which is a much used cover plant in our gardens.

Garden Party at Gilmore Gardens

Our annual garden party in Pennsylvania is in the beautiful month of June!

I wanted to post a few photos of our 3rd annual Gilmore Garden Party that was held the first Saturday in June this year. June is such a beautiful time of year in our gardens, which I am especially appreciating now that the garden is a bit ratty from our dry summer.

I set up the food in the kitchen, since I am shy of being caught in the rain like we were for our first party! We were, however, able to eat outside this year thankfully. The little girls so look forward to dressing up in all their finery. It was a fun, relaxed time of yummy food, walking through the garden and the ever popular hunt for little garden trinkets amongst the flowers. My girls could not wait to find their birdies! In past years, we have had a flower identification hunt with an illustrated guide. It was so nice just to share being in the garden with so many friends.

A garden party needs a yummy cake: Almond cake topped layered with fresh whipped cream and the most scrumptious strawberry icing!!

Rain!

White meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens) in our Back Woodland with raindrops.

We finally had rain yesterday, which all of the flowers and foliage have been yearning for weeks, not to mention the gardeners. It started with a cloud burst and ended with a nice slow rain for the rest of the day well into the evening. Here are a few wet scenes after our downpour in the afternoon...

Hosta, a Christmas fern and Brunnera 'Jack Frost' around a maple on the Shade Path.

Gardening in Pennsylvania~ June GBBD 2012

The Driveway Garden: Lavender, pink lilies, lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and blue fescue (Festuca 'Elijah Blue').

Welcome to our small garden in Pennsylvania, zone 5. We are still quite a bit ahead for the year in our bloom cycle. Many flowers are blooming now that usually wait until July. The lilies are just getting started, as are the daylilies (Hemerocallis).  Some roses are finishing their bloom, though Rosa 'The Fairy' is just beginning. And there are Clematis vines blooming everywhere.  Here is the quick tour at Gilmore Gardens...

Clematis 'Lil' Nell' growing on the back gate, and the steps, and the banister... I love it. Such a dainty white and pink striped flower.

Our Driveway Garden this Week at Gilmore Gardens

The Driveway Garden at Gilmore Gardens

Everything is blooming like crazy this week at our house. The Driveway Garden sits between our pavement and the back yard. Its flowers make our daily coming and going much more pleasant!

I am really happy with the white Allium multibulbosum that I added this year (see more below). It really gives a focal point to the blue froth of Geranium 'Orion' on the left and adds to the charm of the rose pairing on the right. And the classic rose and clematis pairing is just as stunning this year as it has been the past three years.

The Hill Garden Succession 2011

The Hill Garden is located in a raised area at the front left corner of our house. (See the map in "about the garden.") It overlooks the driveway and is a wonderful welcome home with its planting that lasts at least ten months of the year. The photos are group by date taken, which is listed on the left.

The succession in this area should be even grander this year with the addition of a classic combination: Crocus vernus 'Grand Maitre' and Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete'.


March 18th

I love this quiet combination at one side of the Hill: Crocus vernus 'Jeanne d'Arc' with hens and chicks and Ajuga reptans.

Mulch new plants with your Christmas Tree

The cookies have been eaten, the eggnog is drunk. The last party of the season saw the children running around with noisy horns for the new year. December is over, and it is time for that most arduous task: stripping our Christmas tree of its ornaments and lugging it back outside.

This can be depressing for people who loves parties and all the excitement of the holidays, but as gardeners, we can find some redemption even in the dismantling of our treasured decorations.

The weather has continued to be very mild for this time of year, but I am trying not to be lulled into forgetting that the coldest part of the year is yet to come. Some of my plants are in need of extra coverage in January, especially those that were newly planted this past growing season. Their roots are just beginning to establish themselves, not yet fully gripping the soil around them. Also, those in wind-blown areas are often just bare stems and earth by this time since the wind has stolen their leaf cover. This is where our dearly loved Christmas tree comes in to help.

Stems of a newly planted hibiscus made bare by the wind

After hauling/tossing/lugging your tree outdoors, cut off the branches where they meet the trunk. Use these to create a framework around the stems of your precious plants. I usually use 3-4 medium branches per plant, though windier areas my call for using larger and/or more evergreens.  This teepee-like-framework will filter the desiccating winds of winter.

Evergreen branches set in a sort of teepee around the plant.

For ease and in warmer climates, the branches may be enough cover for the winter.

But if you live in a cold zone 5 or higher, you might want to consider taking an extra step on an unfrozen day to protect your plants: Grab handfuls of leaves from elsewhere in your yard and tuck them in and under the evergreen branches. Or do this process in reverse: first pile the leaves around the plant, and then add the branches on top. Either way, this will hold your extra winter cover in place through wind, snow and rain.

Leaf litter tucked into the branches around the hibiscus and the newly transplanted lavender (at left)

My new OSO Easy Rose 'Paprika' surrounded by evergreen cover to help it establish.

An added bonus: the evergreen branches look really pretty scattered in your garden boarders with a dusting of snow!

This photo just taken this evening after our snow fall - finally!

In the first growth of spring, after the weather is less constantly icy, pick up the branches from your plant and scatter the leaves so that you can watch it come out of dormancy. Another winter gone by... oh, for that day!

Merry un-trimming to you!